Gunmen patrol after clashes with police in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, on Jan. 5, 2014. / AP

by Jim Michaels, USA TODAY

by Jim Michaels, USA TODAY

The Iraqi army is letting local police and tribes lead the fight against al-Qaeda in Fallujah and Ramadi, a strategy that reflects concerns that a large influx of government forces could provoke a backlash from the mainly Sunni cities.

The tactic also runs the risk that al-Qaeda militants will establish a foothold in the Iraqi cities and score a major propaganda victory before they are expelled.

"The army is just sitting in their camps," said Qasim Abed, a former governor of Anbar province, where the fighting is taking place. "We asked them to support the tribes."

Lt. Gen. Rasheed Fleih, who leads the Anbar Military Command, told state television Sunday that "two to three days" are needed to push the militants out of the two cities, according to the Associated Press.

He said pro-government tribes are leading the operations in the cities and the Iraqi military is providing some air cover and logistical support.

Abed expressed frustration at the strategy, saying it is taking longer than it should to expel al-Qaeda militants, who have seized parts of Fallujah and Ramadi in some of the worst fighting since American forces withdrew from Iraq in 2011.

In Ramadi on Sunday, Iraqi officials told the AP that fighting between the army and al-Qaeda militants killed 22 soldiers and 12 civilians, along with an unknown number of militants. Fifty-eight people were wounded in the battle. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.

Abed said he longs for a U.S. presence because American forces are viewed as independent and efficient fighters.

"If American troops were available this would be over in 24 hours," he said. Abed estimated about 100 al-Qaeda militants are operating in Ramadi and about 50 in Fallujah.

Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday that while America will support Iraq, the U.S. won't be sending any troops.

"This is a fight that belongs to the Iraqis. That is exactly what the president and the world decided some time ago when we left Iraq, so we are not obviously contemplating returning," he said.

But some U.S. veterans who fought in Iraq said the decision to pull all forces out in 2011 has led to the current crisis.

"Our shortsighted haste to pull out of Iraq has put the sacrifice of the 4,500 dead and tens of thousands of wounded in question," said Tony Deane, a retired Army colonel who served as a battalion commander in Ramadi in 2006.

"You can debate the causes of the start of the war all you want. We are now dealing with the failure to end it properly," he added.

The Obama administration has said it was negotiating with Iraq's government about leaving a residual force behind after 2011, but the Iraqis would not agree to the legal protections required for posting American troops in a foreign country.

Ramadi and Fallujah were key cities during the Iraq war.

Fallujah became a symbol of U.S. resistance and an insurgent stronghold before a bloody U.S. Marine-led offensive in 2004 drove militants out of the city.

In Ramadi a U.S.-supported tribal revolt starting in 2006 would become a turning point in the war. At the time, the tribes turned on al-Qaeda and aligned themselves with American and Iraqi government forces, helping to secure Anbar province.

The movement, called the Awakening, illustrated the importance of tribal dynamics in Sunni-dominated Anbar province where sheiks hold sway and locals are distrustful of outsiders.

That's why leaving the locals in charge of fighting al-Qaeda now is the right call, analysts say.

Sterling Jensen, an analyst at the National Defense University's Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, said the tribes asked to take the lead in the fight. Tribal fighters include the police, most of whom are affiliated with tribes.

"The police are still probably the best tool" for combating al-Qaeda militants in the city, said Deane, who as a battalion commander helped establish local police there.

Tribal alliances shift, but historically the Anbar tribes opposed al-Qaeda, even though on occasion some have allied themselves with militants. In the early days of the Iraqi insurgency, for example, some tribes partnered with al-Qaeda, fearing the Shiite-dominated central government.

"The tribes have been against al-Qaeda for years," Deane said.

The latest outbreak in violence stems from the growing strength of al-Qaeda combined with heightened tensions between Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq. Al-Qaeda has been boosted in the past couple years by its role in neighboring Syria, where militants are fighting the regime of Bashar Assad.

In Iraq, al-Qaeda's strategy has been to exploit the growing rift between the Shiite-dominated government of Nouri al-Maliki and the Sunni minority, playing on Sunni fears of Shiite domination.

It's not clear al-Qaeda's strategy is working and they may have overplayed their hand.

For now, most of the tribes in Fallujah and Ramadi seem to be battling al-Qaeda, putting aside, at least temporarily, any qualms with the central government, Abed said.